9/9/2011 9:30 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

The Anti-Defamation League has released a statement -- demanding Warner Bros. pull Gibson off the flick immediately ... saying, "As a hero of the Jewish people and a universal hero in the struggle for religious liberty, Judah Maccabee deserves better."

The statement adds, "It would be a travesty to have the story of the Maccabees told by one
who has no respect and sensitivity for other people’s religious views."

TMZ also spoke with Rabbi Marvin Hier -- founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center -- who tells us putting Mel Gibson work on a movie about a Jewish hero is "like having a white supremacist portray Martin Luther King Jr."

FYI -- Judah is a central figure in the story of Hanukkah ... as the brave warrior who drove enemies of Judaism out of Jerusalem.